Mahi Mahi: Tis the Season

What to do with the finest fish as our culinary thoughts turn to spring.

Let’s start with something simple, like this pan-seared mahi recipe that uses an inventive kiwi fruit chutney to great advantage. The fish remains center stage, but the chutney brings fresh, bright flavors to the recipe along with a bit of sweetness from the coconut milk and some nice heat from the jalapeno.

With such a simple recipe, you’d think wine pairing would be easy. Truth be told, this is probably quite a wine-friendly recipe, but at the same time there’s a lot going on here and we should be careful not to overpower the nuance of the chutney with our choice of wine. To me, this looks like a job for a lightly barrel-aged Sauvignon Blanc. Barrel-ageing adds some spice to a wine, but also contributes a touch of sweetness as well, while the basic citrus and herb flavors of many Sauvignon Blancs would pair up very well with this recipe. Lucky for us there are plenty of suitable Sauvies out there, like the fortuitously named Mahi(!) from New Zealand and one of the many Fumé Blancs from California, like the original, produced by Robert Mondavi.

Mentioned in this article

Comments

I am from the Big Island a fisherman and a wine lover. As you know Mahi mahi is the Hawaiian name for Dolphin fish and is a staple over here. However a better fish ; arguably the best in the world is Ono...Wahoo from those outside Hawaii. It is a lot better fish all around and with the Cilantro Chutney...fantastic. Add in the Monkey Bay Sav. Blanc and you have a meal and a half.